A 90-year-old grandmother, Mercy Ofori-Kuma, has lost a nearly two-month High Court battle with her granddaughters over how to lay her daughter Margaret, 60, to rest, after arguing that cremation would breach the family's Ghanaian royal burial customs. Margaret died suddenly on 9 June without leaving formal instructions, prompting a dispute between Mercy, along with another daughter, Victoria, who wanted a traditional burial, and Margaret's three daughters, who said their mother had explicitly wished to be cremated. Mr Justice Macdonald ruled in favour of the granddaughters, allowing cremation to proceed, in a case that highlights how courts can be drawn into resolving deeply personal family and cultural disputes over funeral arrangements.

Mercy claimed the family belonged to Ghana's Akyem Royal Family and that cremation was a "grave taboo" that could bring spiritual consequences such as death, madness or disownment, but the judge found her case rested on only a single alleged remark from Margaret and was unpersuaded. He also noted Victoria's "smirking, contemptuous demeanour" in court, for which he reprimanded her. By contrast, Margaret's daughters — Michaela Fordjor, Karyn and Delores Ofori — presented consistent accounts of remarks their mother made over several years, including "you can cremate me and bring me home" and "don't leave me behind", alongside evidence of a close relationship with her and describing Mercy and Victoria as "very manipulative" shortly before her death.